Central Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Central Bank & Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 29.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 919 shares during the quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sanders Morris Harris LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 8.9% during the first quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 2,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 85.6% during the first quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 42,549 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,626,000 after purchasing an additional 19,621 shares during the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.1% during the first quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 1,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.0% during the first quarter. Hummer Financial Advisory Services Inc now owns 5,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.2% during the first quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 123,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ADP. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP traded up $1.91 on Friday, hitting $247.97. The company had a trading volume of 3,022,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,978. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.53 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $245.89 and a 200 day moving average of $243.48. The company has a market cap of $101.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.68, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Automatic Data Processing Profile

Automatic Data Processing, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Employer Services and Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The Employer Services segment offers strategic, cloud-based platforms, and human resources (HR) outsourcing solutions.